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Friday Five: August 25, 2023
Aug. 25th, 2023 08:14 pm1. Are you prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse (essentially any disaster, natural or otherwise)?
Not as much as I would like.
(that's glass-half-empty for "yes")
2. What's in your bug-in (stay safe at home) kit?
Four 20L jugs of tap water. Six 24-packs (= 72L) of commercially bottled water (stacked to form a table in my parents' bedroom).
A tent that in a pinch we could probably set up in the kitchen to better share body heat, though I have not yet practised that.
I keep a deep pantry and three freezers: I routinely go 2 - 3 weeks at a time between grocery trips, and if we absolutely had to I expect we could go maybe 3 - 4 months.
Late August means I'm due for the annual check of our OTC medication supplies: I'll be dealing with that one soon. (Off the top of my head I know we have plenty of naproxen (I saw an unopened 200-pack in there recently on my way to fetching something else), but not much acetaminophen (a few pills).)
A spirit-burner stove (and a bottle of fuel for it) that I am admittedly not as practised with as I should be.
Some of the bug-out items are also notable here, such as the camping solar panel capable of keeping several phones and USB lights charged.
3. What's in your bug-out bag?
That's a long list.
General overview:
* masks/respirator/goggles/wearable-mosquito-nets
* spare glasses (highly recommended: I notice a couple other Friday Five answerers expressing concerns about glasses access)
* spare clothes
* toothbrush/floss/soap
* a three-day pack of lifeboat rations (apple-cinnamon flavoured; most ration bars are coconut, but I dislike coconut and my mom's allergic)
* cash
* medkit (largely wound care, with OTC meds and whatnot being in my utility belt; if I were sexually active I'd have emergency contraception in here, but since I'm not it's low enough on the priority list that I haven't bought it yet (though it *is* still *on* the priority list))
* menstrual products
* fire kit
* water-purification tablets (there's also a filter straw in the utility belt), two water bottles (one of which I specifically got single-walled steel for, so that you can boil water in it in a pinch)
* abovementioned solar panel
* USB headlamp (though if I were doing it again today I'd go for one that takes AAAs and get some of those USB-rechargeable AAA-shaped batteries to stick in it, get the best of both worlds)
* map (no longer free, but I got in while the getting was good and it's still pretty cheap)
* wet wipes, some of those compressed just-add-water towels
* heavy-duty trash bag (poor man's tarp)
It's all kept in a camping backpack, which I spent CAD$280 on and I don't regret it: it really does make a *huge* difference in how well I can carry stuff around, and in how likely it is to break when I need it most. I've weighed everything and it comes out to 18.4 pounds, though my future plans call for a final weight of 21.6 - 25.6 pounds depending on how many of the things I'm torn on I decide to go for. (Plus the utility belt is another seven pounds or so.)
Some things that would normally be in bug-out bags are in my day-to-day utility belt instead, such as the foil blanket and the campfire/sterilisation lighter (it's not really a "cigarette" lighter, given that it's never lit a cigarette in its life) and the penfork.
4. What's on your 'to get' list?
I originally interpreted this question as "what things are you grabbing during an evacuation if you have slightly more time than 'take the bug-out bag and run'": laptops, prescription meds, bag of this year's utility bills and tax documents and suchlike, previous years' document bags if I can swing it (some people say old ones are unimportant, but I *have* been known to find myself in positions where I need to be able to produce a bank statement from 2015 and I *have* been known to find myself consulting paperwork from 2007 and I don't have the *entire* archive digitised at this time).
But it looks like all the other respondents so far have interpreted it as "what prepping-related items are you hoping to get in the future", so: broad-spectrum radio (I have an FM receiver in my phone and there's an AM/FM radio in Dad's bag, but I know I can do better), multitool, wool clothes to replace the current bug-out-bag outfit, stand-to-pee, closed-cell sleeping pad, proper tarp maybe, lightweight/compact sleeping bag maybe, fire-escape window ladder, home insulation (actively working on this!), hybrid on-grid/off-grid rooftop solar (it's *so* expensive but I want it *so* much). Every room in my basement has at least one window for some fucking reason even though we're only *almost* outside of tornado country (they're not common but they happen, and we had a tornado warning last month), so I'd really like to do something to improve the sheltering there.
5. Do you keep gear in your vehicle, if so, what?
I do not de jure own a vehicle, though I picked-out and paid-for-90%-of my dad's car (it's a pain in the ass to legally own a car you can't drive, so instead I shoved the money into his bank account and had him fill out the paperwork). I hope to get a bicycle soon, but I've been saying that for over a year now.
There are three more three-day ration packs in the underfloor compartment of my dad's trunk (being left in vehicles for years on end is what lifeboat rations are specifically designed for!). There's a seatbelt-cutter/window-breaker in the glove compartment. I'm pretty sure there's a blanket. Figuring out emergency-car-repair gear is his job: I can't say I particularly trust him with it (certainly I've never been able to get him to adopt the practice of not letting your gas tank go below half-full, though we've only outright run out once), but there's no point in putting repair gear into a car if the driver's not on board with it.
Not as much as I would like.
(that's glass-half-empty for "yes")
2. What's in your bug-in (stay safe at home) kit?
Four 20L jugs of tap water. Six 24-packs (= 72L) of commercially bottled water (stacked to form a table in my parents' bedroom).
A tent that in a pinch we could probably set up in the kitchen to better share body heat, though I have not yet practised that.
I keep a deep pantry and three freezers: I routinely go 2 - 3 weeks at a time between grocery trips, and if we absolutely had to I expect we could go maybe 3 - 4 months.
Late August means I'm due for the annual check of our OTC medication supplies: I'll be dealing with that one soon. (Off the top of my head I know we have plenty of naproxen (I saw an unopened 200-pack in there recently on my way to fetching something else), but not much acetaminophen (a few pills).)
A spirit-burner stove (and a bottle of fuel for it) that I am admittedly not as practised with as I should be.
Some of the bug-out items are also notable here, such as the camping solar panel capable of keeping several phones and USB lights charged.
3. What's in your bug-out bag?
That's a long list.
General overview:
* masks/respirator/goggles/wearable-mosquito-nets
* spare glasses (highly recommended: I notice a couple other Friday Five answerers expressing concerns about glasses access)
* spare clothes
* toothbrush/floss/soap
* a three-day pack of lifeboat rations (apple-cinnamon flavoured; most ration bars are coconut, but I dislike coconut and my mom's allergic)
* cash
* medkit (largely wound care, with OTC meds and whatnot being in my utility belt; if I were sexually active I'd have emergency contraception in here, but since I'm not it's low enough on the priority list that I haven't bought it yet (though it *is* still *on* the priority list))
* menstrual products
* fire kit
* water-purification tablets (there's also a filter straw in the utility belt), two water bottles (one of which I specifically got single-walled steel for, so that you can boil water in it in a pinch)
* abovementioned solar panel
* USB headlamp (though if I were doing it again today I'd go for one that takes AAAs and get some of those USB-rechargeable AAA-shaped batteries to stick in it, get the best of both worlds)
* map (no longer free, but I got in while the getting was good and it's still pretty cheap)
* wet wipes, some of those compressed just-add-water towels
* heavy-duty trash bag (poor man's tarp)
It's all kept in a camping backpack, which I spent CAD$280 on and I don't regret it: it really does make a *huge* difference in how well I can carry stuff around, and in how likely it is to break when I need it most. I've weighed everything and it comes out to 18.4 pounds, though my future plans call for a final weight of 21.6 - 25.6 pounds depending on how many of the things I'm torn on I decide to go for. (Plus the utility belt is another seven pounds or so.)
Some things that would normally be in bug-out bags are in my day-to-day utility belt instead, such as the foil blanket and the campfire/sterilisation lighter (it's not really a "cigarette" lighter, given that it's never lit a cigarette in its life) and the penfork.
4. What's on your 'to get' list?
I originally interpreted this question as "what things are you grabbing during an evacuation if you have slightly more time than 'take the bug-out bag and run'": laptops, prescription meds, bag of this year's utility bills and tax documents and suchlike, previous years' document bags if I can swing it (some people say old ones are unimportant, but I *have* been known to find myself in positions where I need to be able to produce a bank statement from 2015 and I *have* been known to find myself consulting paperwork from 2007 and I don't have the *entire* archive digitised at this time).
But it looks like all the other respondents so far have interpreted it as "what prepping-related items are you hoping to get in the future", so: broad-spectrum radio (I have an FM receiver in my phone and there's an AM/FM radio in Dad's bag, but I know I can do better), multitool, wool clothes to replace the current bug-out-bag outfit, stand-to-pee, closed-cell sleeping pad, proper tarp maybe, lightweight/compact sleeping bag maybe, fire-escape window ladder, home insulation (actively working on this!), hybrid on-grid/off-grid rooftop solar (it's *so* expensive but I want it *so* much). Every room in my basement has at least one window for some fucking reason even though we're only *almost* outside of tornado country (they're not common but they happen, and we had a tornado warning last month), so I'd really like to do something to improve the sheltering there.
5. Do you keep gear in your vehicle, if so, what?
I do not de jure own a vehicle, though I picked-out and paid-for-90%-of my dad's car (it's a pain in the ass to legally own a car you can't drive, so instead I shoved the money into his bank account and had him fill out the paperwork). I hope to get a bicycle soon, but I've been saying that for over a year now.
There are three more three-day ration packs in the underfloor compartment of my dad's trunk (being left in vehicles for years on end is what lifeboat rations are specifically designed for!). There's a seatbelt-cutter/window-breaker in the glove compartment. I'm pretty sure there's a blanket. Figuring out emergency-car-repair gear is his job: I can't say I particularly trust him with it (certainly I've never been able to get him to adopt the practice of not letting your gas tank go below half-full, though we've only outright run out once), but there's no point in putting repair gear into a car if the driver's not on board with it.
1. What’s the last thing you got in the mail?
For somewhat loose but reasonable definitions of "I" and "mail" (I combined orders with Mom to get free shipping, and it came to the door), a set of resistance bands. I am taking up arm workouts in the hopes of (1) unlocking the ability to apply for jobs involving manual labour and (2) hauling my own softener-salt bags. (cultural-context note: softener-salt bags weigh 40 pounds, and--even after you've managed to get them home--using them involves carrying them down to the basement and dumping their contents into the top of a ~four-foot bin)
(Come to think of it, given the link in the post a couple days ago, (3) [being able to loosen the weight limits on my evacuation kit enough to include a tent] may also come in handy.)
2. What’s the last thing you sent in the mail?
I sold an old textbook on eBay.
3. How many unread emails are in your inbox right now?
Nothing in my main inbox is marked unread at the moment; 21 need to be dealt with in some way. For Brin the numbers are 1 and 8 respectively. (Some of them will be very easy to deal with, I just haven't done a basic-level cleaning in a couple days.)
[...]
Okay, knocked them down to 14 and 4.
4. What is your most recent text message about?
At time of writing: warning Dad that dinner was running late and I would not be at the pickup point for 9 o'clock as originally planned.
(After drafting this, I had an exchange acknowledging that my work schedule this week is the same as last week.)
5. Do you have a favorite postage stamp design?
Not particularly.
For somewhat loose but reasonable definitions of "I" and "mail" (I combined orders with Mom to get free shipping, and it came to the door), a set of resistance bands. I am taking up arm workouts in the hopes of (1) unlocking the ability to apply for jobs involving manual labour and (2) hauling my own softener-salt bags. (cultural-context note: softener-salt bags weigh 40 pounds, and--even after you've managed to get them home--using them involves carrying them down to the basement and dumping their contents into the top of a ~four-foot bin)
(Come to think of it, given the link in the post a couple days ago, (3) [being able to loosen the weight limits on my evacuation kit enough to include a tent] may also come in handy.)
2. What’s the last thing you sent in the mail?
I sold an old textbook on eBay.
3. How many unread emails are in your inbox right now?
Nothing in my main inbox is marked unread at the moment; 21 need to be dealt with in some way. For Brin the numbers are 1 and 8 respectively. (Some of them will be very easy to deal with, I just haven't done a basic-level cleaning in a couple days.)
[...]
Okay, knocked them down to 14 and 4.
4. What is your most recent text message about?
At time of writing: warning Dad that dinner was running late and I would not be at the pickup point for 9 o'clock as originally planned.
(After drafting this, I had an exchange acknowledging that my work schedule this week is the same as last week.)
5. Do you have a favorite postage stamp design?
Not particularly.
Friday Five: June 25, 2021
Jun. 25th, 2021 12:35 pm[arguably cw: illness, food]
( Read more... )
3) Where do you set your thermostat?
Currently 73F. Some years we work our way up to 74.
Symmetrically, in winter it's 67 or sometimes 66.
4) How did you learn to swim?
I did play around in pools as a kid, but also I took a class in 2011. Apparently almost all people take swimming classes either in early childhood or not at all: there were only two other people in the adult class (ages 13+), and they were both elderly people trying to get over their fear of water so that they could play with their grandchildren in the pool.
Which is kind of strange, really, since it turns out that swimming gets so much easier after you've been on estrogen for a while. I have a built-in flotation belt now!
5) How do you avoid overheating?
In practice, mostly by staying inside. Outside: hats, shade, fans, having a body that grew up with New Jerseyan summers and is used to this sort of thing.
( Read more... )
3) Where do you set your thermostat?
Currently 73F. Some years we work our way up to 74.
Symmetrically, in winter it's 67 or sometimes 66.
4) How did you learn to swim?
I did play around in pools as a kid, but also I took a class in 2011. Apparently almost all people take swimming classes either in early childhood or not at all: there were only two other people in the adult class (ages 13+), and they were both elderly people trying to get over their fear of water so that they could play with their grandchildren in the pool.
Which is kind of strange, really, since it turns out that swimming gets so much easier after you've been on estrogen for a while. I have a built-in flotation belt now!
5) How do you avoid overheating?
In practice, mostly by staying inside. Outside: hats, shade, fans, having a body that grew up with New Jerseyan summers and is used to this sort of thing.
1. What is the best book you have ever read? Why did you like it?
*Ever*, I'm not sure.
The cached answer from back when I was often asked my favourite book is "Ella Enchanted". It's got tons of loophole exploitation! And people getting mind-controlled into being happy about their situation! And a *genuine* happy ending!
2. What is your favorite kind of weather? Why?
About 12°C, sunny, light breeze, leaves crunching under your feet, ragweed season over.
I can go outside, enjoy the fresh air, wear a turtleneck *and* my favourite jacket and be neither too warm nor too cold.
3. If you had $100,000, how would you spend it?
You know what, it *is* about time I wrote down the List. It'll help me make sure I'm keeping track of it all, compared to just having it in my head.
(all figures in CAD, translated where necessary)
i. Very extensive roof repairs (~$6,500 - $11,000, depending on quality and haggling)
ii. Partial dentures for Dad (~$2,000)
iii. One-month, three-person emergency fund (Brother has a full-time job and partially separate finances: he can take care of himself) ($3,750)
iv. Laptop for Mom (current laptop barely functions as a personal computer (plus it's hampering her ad-mining) but would make a fine prosthetic brain for the TV; current TV prosthetic brain barely functions as such but would make a fine short-term emergency spare) (~$400)
v. Three-month, three-person emergency fund ($7,500 if you already have a one-month)
vi. Dental checkups for me and Mom (~$350)
vii. Extensive porch repairs and handrail installation (don't have a price quote on this yet, maybe a few thousand)
viii. ~5- to 7-year-old Toyota Prius V (by far the most fuel-efficient of [non-luxury car models capable of driving 100mi to New York, fitting $800 of groceries inside, then driving 100mi back]) (~$14,000)
ix. [classified] ($3,700)
x. Six-month, three-person emergency fund ($11,250 if you already have a three-month)
xi. Fill out rest of RRSP (~$3,200)
xii. Replace upstairs hallway carpet (much of which is covered in permanent dog-urine stains), probably also have to replace parts of the floor underneath as some spots are suspiciously squishy (don't have a price quote on this yet)
xiii. New coat of paint for parts of house requiring protective paint coating (don't have a price quote on this yet)
xiv. Ask Dad if there are any other house repairs I've overlooked (don't have a price quote on this yet)
...let's see, what I am up to now? Around 60 - 70k? And the original 100k was probably meant to be USD, so I've still got about half left.
If I had 65k lying around because of extra *income*, I'd say that's enough for it to be worth my while to hire a U.S. tax specialist to fill out the Qualified Electing Fund paperwork on a bunch of VGRO. (The nice thing about those all-in-one funds is you only have to fill out one set of QEF paperwork (per year) for your entire portfolio.) But this is a lump sum, which means we're still bleeding money underneath (albeit less than before, what with the non-beater car), which means we're likely to need that 65k in the next five years, which means no stock market. I'll just add it to the same carefully-optimised† savings account as the emergency fund. (Between that and the emergency fund, it's over $200/month in interest!)
4. Did you ever meet a famous person?
Well, there's a surprisingly decent chance I've run into Justin Bieber at some point and not realised...
I mean, in general, I don't expect that I'd notice if someone I was meeting was famous. Didn't even realise for a while that the person I was chatting with in some blog comment threads a few years back was Ursula Vernon, and I can't blame prosopagnosia for that one.
5. Were you ever in a helicopter, limousine, racecar, hot-air balloon, submarine, horse-drawn carriage?
Only horse-drawn carriages.
---
†About 2.8 - 3.3% interest, depending on which promotions are going on at the moment.
*Ever*, I'm not sure.
The cached answer from back when I was often asked my favourite book is "Ella Enchanted". It's got tons of loophole exploitation! And people getting mind-controlled into being happy about their situation! And a *genuine* happy ending!
2. What is your favorite kind of weather? Why?
About 12°C, sunny, light breeze, leaves crunching under your feet, ragweed season over.
I can go outside, enjoy the fresh air, wear a turtleneck *and* my favourite jacket and be neither too warm nor too cold.
3. If you had $100,000, how would you spend it?
You know what, it *is* about time I wrote down the List. It'll help me make sure I'm keeping track of it all, compared to just having it in my head.
(all figures in CAD, translated where necessary)
i. Very extensive roof repairs (~$6,500 - $11,000, depending on quality and haggling)
ii. Partial dentures for Dad (~$2,000)
iii. One-month, three-person emergency fund (Brother has a full-time job and partially separate finances: he can take care of himself) ($3,750)
iv. Laptop for Mom (current laptop barely functions as a personal computer (plus it's hampering her ad-mining) but would make a fine prosthetic brain for the TV; current TV prosthetic brain barely functions as such but would make a fine short-term emergency spare) (~$400)
v. Three-month, three-person emergency fund ($7,500 if you already have a one-month)
vi. Dental checkups for me and Mom (~$350)
vii. Extensive porch repairs and handrail installation (don't have a price quote on this yet, maybe a few thousand)
viii. ~5- to 7-year-old Toyota Prius V (by far the most fuel-efficient of [non-luxury car models capable of driving 100mi to New York, fitting $800 of groceries inside, then driving 100mi back]) (~$14,000)
ix. [classified] ($3,700)
x. Six-month, three-person emergency fund ($11,250 if you already have a three-month)
xi. Fill out rest of RRSP (~$3,200)
xii. Replace upstairs hallway carpet (much of which is covered in permanent dog-urine stains), probably also have to replace parts of the floor underneath as some spots are suspiciously squishy (don't have a price quote on this yet)
xiii. New coat of paint for parts of house requiring protective paint coating (don't have a price quote on this yet)
xiv. Ask Dad if there are any other house repairs I've overlooked (don't have a price quote on this yet)
...let's see, what I am up to now? Around 60 - 70k? And the original 100k was probably meant to be USD, so I've still got about half left.
If I had 65k lying around because of extra *income*, I'd say that's enough for it to be worth my while to hire a U.S. tax specialist to fill out the Qualified Electing Fund paperwork on a bunch of VGRO. (The nice thing about those all-in-one funds is you only have to fill out one set of QEF paperwork (per year) for your entire portfolio.) But this is a lump sum, which means we're still bleeding money underneath (albeit less than before, what with the non-beater car), which means we're likely to need that 65k in the next five years, which means no stock market. I'll just add it to the same carefully-optimised† savings account as the emergency fund. (Between that and the emergency fund, it's over $200/month in interest!)
4. Did you ever meet a famous person?
Well, there's a surprisingly decent chance I've run into Justin Bieber at some point and not realised...
I mean, in general, I don't expect that I'd notice if someone I was meeting was famous. Didn't even realise for a while that the person I was chatting with in some blog comment threads a few years back was Ursula Vernon, and I can't blame prosopagnosia for that one.
5. Were you ever in a helicopter, limousine, racecar, hot-air balloon, submarine, horse-drawn carriage?
Only horse-drawn carriages.
---
†About 2.8 - 3.3% interest, depending on which promotions are going on at the moment.
